Abstract
Earthworms are important soil biota that can be used as an indicator of soil fertility. Soil tillage systems and application of organic mulch will affect the activity of earthworms. This research was aimed to study the effect of tillage systems and the application of in situ mulch, and their interactions on the population and the biomass of earthworms. The study was conducted from April to July 2017 at the Integrated Field Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Lampung. The study was arranged in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) in a factorial treatment with two factors. The first factor was the tillage system which consisted of the minimum tillage and the intensive tillage. The second factor was the application of in situ mulch, which consisted of the application of 0 Mg ha-1 or without mulch and the application of 5 Mg ha-1 in situ mulch.The data obtained were tested for homogeneity of variance with the Bartlett Test and its additivity with the Tukey Test. Data were further analyzed for the analysis of variance and for the LSD’s Test at the level of 5%. The relationship between soil temperature, soil moisture content, soil organic-C and soil pH with population and biomass earthworm was tested by correlation test. The results showed that the earthworm population and the earthworm biomass at 80 DAP in the minimum tillage was higher than that of the intensive tillage. The earthworm population for all detected planting stages (before tillage, 40 DAP and 80 DAP) with the of application of 5 Mg ha-1 in situ mulch was higher than that of the application of no mulch. There is no interaction between the tillage system and the application of in situ mulch at 0 DAP, 40 DAP, and 80 DAP. The genus of earthworms found in all treatment plots was genus Pheretima under the family of Megascolecidae.
Highlights
Soil tillage is a mechanical manipulation of the land to create soil conditions to be good for plant growth
The identification of earthworms was carried out in the laboratory based on the morphological characteristics according to a guideline (Edwards and Lofty 1977) to identify earthworms based on body parts such as the setae, the mouth type, the clitelium position and the number of segments
The results show that the tillage system (T) has a significant effect on the earthworm population at 80 DAP while the application of in situ mulsa (M) has a significant effect on the earthworm population at before tillage, 40 DAP and 80 DAP
Summary
Soil tillage is a mechanical manipulation of the land to create soil conditions to be good for plant growth. According to Utomo (2004), a continuous tillage would have a negative impact on the soil which caused the damage of soil stucture that was either to a direct mechanical destroy or due to the significant loss of the soil organic matter that lead to a break in the soil aggreagate. Soil minimum tillage is highly recommended as one of the soil conservation treatment to be applied in crop farmings. In preparing land for crop plantation, mulch application is highly recommended. The organic materials applied as mulch can protect the soil from direct sparks of raindrops, suppress weed growth around plant roots and create microclimates that support plant growth (Utomo 2012)
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